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Gogol Bordello is pretty gimmicky, even more so than Flogging Molly or Man Man. One of the best bands on the planet?? Good lord, no.

I would never listen to them, but I bet they will put on a fun show.

Joe wrote:

Crumpty Williams wrote:Streetlight's cool, but calling them gypsy inspired is kind of stretching it. It's ska-punk pretty much through and through....

Holy shit you are stupid.

Gogol Bordello is fucking cheesy. Get that shit out of my face.

-Joe.

This astounding display of foolishness is simply unparalleled.

And Elliot, shame on you for being in the same boat as Joe on this one.... I really don't find them to be gimmick-y at all. Maybe they come off that way at first, but if you get into their stuff a little bit you can see that it's totally for real. Eugene Hutz's story is fucking amazing... and Gogol Bordello is like this dude's life put to music. It's awesome....

On another note, rock the fuck out of GDP tomorrow!

gimmicky? cheesy? i'd like to hear a solid argument on this one...being that all but one of the members are immigrants from eastern europe and are merely combining the traditional sounds of their culture with a punk/dub influence. not your thing? cool. but certainly not gimmicky or cheesy.

the "borat" reference also demonstrates complete cultural ignorance. believe it or not, that's what east-european music actually sounds like, without the punk influence.

this will be an epic show and i'm looking forward to it. thanks sam!

anon, while generally an out-of-whack toolweiner , is right on on this one. absolutely!

By gimmicky, I just mean that 99% of people who like that band probably have no appreciation for whatever culture or area that they come from, and are more amused by the singer's funny accent and the band's quirky tunes.

Again, I'm sure they will be a lot of fun. But I wish people would stop freaking out over them.

elliot wrote:By gimmicky, I just mean that 99% of people who like that band probably have no appreciation for whatever culture or area that they come from, and are more amused by the singer's funny accent and the band's quirky tunes.

THat's a problem with people (more specifically, the "stupid American" phenomenon)... not the band. And actually I'd be willing to bet you're wrong on that one, too, as they have fans all over the world.... In fact I think it's just the opposite--the critical acclaim and growing worldwide fanbase comes from the fact that people DO appreciate the cultural aspects of the band.

elliot wrote:By gimmicky, I just mean that 99% of people who like that band probably have no appreciation for whatever culture or area that they come from, and are more amused by the singer's funny accent and the band's quirky tunes.
.

Crumpty Williams wrote: THat's a problem with people (more specifically, the "stupid American" phenomenon)...

Do you really have to have an appreciation for whatever culture or area they come from to enjoy their music or legitimize liking it?

I suppose if you want to go to this show and not be labeled a poser you had better brush up on thievery, swindling, fortune telling, leaving babies on doorsteps and other fine points of gypsydom.

El Rhino wrote:

elliot wrote:By gimmicky, I just mean that 99% of people who like that band probably have no appreciation for whatever culture or area that they come from, and are more amused by the singer's funny accent and the band's quirky tunes.
.

Crumpty Williams wrote: THat's a problem with people (more specifically, the "stupid American" phenomenon)...

Do you really have to have an appreciation for whatever culture or area they come from to enjoy their music or legitimize liking it?

I suppose if you want to go to this show and not be labeled a poser you had better brush up on thievery, swindling, fortune telling, leaving babies on doorsteps and other fine points of gypsydom.

yeah... no offense at all elliot, but agleed.
I mean, you know how i feel about BrokeNcyde and their roots. As long as they are making good music, I don't care if they rip off little jon

Okay, let me just take back everything I said and leave it at this: The first time I heard Gogol Bordello, with that accent and that gypsy thing going on, I was immediately turned off. An alarm in my brain screamed "THIS IS GOOFY SHIT," and it's hard for me to turn that alarm off. Sorry for any stress I caused.

Crumpty Williams wrote:
This astounding display of foolishness is simply unparalleled.

Yeah, because listening to Somewhere In the Between and hearing the gypsy influence is SO MUCH OF A STRETCH. Streetlight Manifesto sounds exactly like Less Than Jake! What was I thinking?

-Joe.

Speaking of Less Than Jake, you should book them too Sam.

By the time Super Taranta came out, I was kind of bored with GB's sound. I'll probably still go though because I can imagine their live show is way better than the album

elliot wrote:Okay, let me just take back everything I said and leave it at this: The first time I heard Gogol Bordello, with that accent and that gypsy thing going on, I was immediately turned off. An alarm in my brain screamed "THIS IS GOOFY SHIT," and it's hard for me to turn that alarm off. Sorry for any stress I caused.

One more thing. It's a natural accent. Borat has ruined an entire culture.

The band has a lot of energy so that is why they are fun for me.

sams wrote: One more thing. It's a natural accent. Borat has ruined an entire culture.
.

Like Pratt said earlier, that's the people's problem. If someone can't distinguish between Eastern Europe (that's the angle they're going for, right?) and Kazakhstan, they suck at geography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ3RrqBqk14

Speaking of "stupid Americans", this video is pretty funny. I don't believe that this is a phenomena unique to the United States though.

like them or love them the who is going to be opening for these guys?

I would never give my money to Euro trash.

El Rhino wrote:

sams wrote: One more thing. It's a natural accent. Borat has ruined an entire culture.
.

Like Pratt said earlier, that's the people's problem. If someone can't distinguish between Eastern Europe (that's the angle they're going for, right?) and Kazakhstan, they suck at geography.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. But in any case the whole "stupid american" thing here isn't about not being able to distinguish between accents... its more about chalking up to novelty (whether you think its cool neovelty or lame novelty) a phenomenal band simply because the singer does, in fact, have an accent (or wears funny clothes or plays gypsy-esque music or whatever). That IS stupid. And in this case I think it's pretty uniquely american (though I could be wrong) to do the whole "this band is awesome because the dude sounds like borat" or "This band is just a stupid novelty act because the dude sounds like Borat" thing.

If you actually listen to Gogol Bordello, they're as real as it gets. Not that I have anything against bands that are gimmicky per se (e.g. I love the aquabats), but this band is way more than that. Sure, they've got some quirky flair, but they've definitely got the talent and substance to back it up.

Excellent songwriting, phenomenal live show, and a knack for crossing genres and mixing mass appeal with punk roots without compromise in a way I've never seen any band do before....

I'll say it again, best band on the fucking planet right now!

Crumpty Williams wrote:I'll say it again, best band on the fucking planet right now!

this is about the dumbest thing you could say. anywhere. about anybody.

i'd rather listen to they might be giants.

joseph wrote:

Crumpty Williams wrote:I'll say it again, best band on the fucking planet right now!

this is about the dumbest thing you could say. anywhere. about anybody.

Dude I told you. It all goes back to me reading that anti-insightful article about the Somalia pirates. Made me into a complete retard! I don't know how dumb I am now exactly, but it's pretty fucking dumb. I mean like DUMB dumb! or even Dmb DUMB DUMB dumb! stupid dumb. for sure. yikes

Crumpty Williams wrote:Dude I told you. It all goes back to me reading that anti-insightful article about the Somalia pirates. Made me into a complete retard! I don't know how dumb I am now exactly, but it's pretty fucking dumb. I mean like DUMB dumb! or even Dmb DUMB DUMB dumb! stupid dumb. for sure. yikes

always blaming something else. never taking responsibility for your own actions. D U M M Y you aint got no alibi

it is true. the decision to actually read the article in the first place was without a doubt the result of some level of inherent dumbness on my part.

i dont' like Gogol Bordello. it's just not my thing.
that said, i really enjoy when people try to claim stuff like Gogol Bordello as cultural. i'm sorry, but if your idea of culture / cultural understanding, stop calling other people "stupid americans."
(not aimed at anyone in the thread necessarily, just sayin)

i'm not a big fan of the term "stupid american" in general myself, which is why i put quotes around it in the first place. To clarify, the only reason I brought that term up was to describe what Elliot saw as the phenomenon of people jumping on the Gogol Bordello bandwagon for stupid reasons (e.g. some Dave Matthews fan or whatever being like "yeah brah this band is sweet their singer is totally like Borat!") [note: I tend to think that this such a phenomenon isn't even really happening with this band, but I could be wrong]. He seemed to attribute this issue to the band itself, whereas I would say that if this is indeed happening, its a problem with the people, not the band... and the type of people that it would be happening with are ones that would most likely fit into the "stupid American" stereotype. Does that make sense?

In any case, call me fucking stupid (nothing new there), but I really do think there is indeed a case to be made for associating this band with the concept of being "cultural." But even that is only a side point and just a response to all the people vehemently claiming that there's nothing cultural about this band....

I still stand by my original point which was that this band is awesome, whether you think they're "cultural" or not. If you disagree and haven't been to one of their shows, you should go and see if your mind isn't changed.

Fuck. Communication is tough in these parts.

Also, if you don't like them, you don't like them. I'm cool with that. lol

P.S. Ed I think you lied to me abou that Tyborn shirt, as that ink-stainy thing appears not to have been part of the design. Still a sweet shirt though.

who is borat